The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and, more particularly, to endless flat conveyor belts that are positively driven.
Low-tension, positively driven flat conveyor belts are especially useful in conveying food products. One such conveyor belt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,210,573. That belt has on its underside a plurality of equally spaced, parallel teeth extending across the width of the belt perpendicular to the direction of belt travel. Sprockets engage the teeth to drive the belt. But, unless the belt is restrained laterally in some way, it can wander to one side or the other and jam or damage its outside edge. Physical restraints or guides can help keep the belt on track, but do so by means of friction, which increases the amount of power and the size of the motor required to drive the belt.
Another problem with both tensioned flat belts and low-tension, positively driven flat belts is the difficulty in joining segments together to form an endless belt of the proper length. Conventional means of joining belt segments include fusing the opposing ends of consecutive segments together and using hinged clips, i.e., metal elements with a pivot pin and grippers that are forced into the opposing ends of consecutive segments, to connect consecutive segments. Both solutions are troublesome and difficult to perform in many applications.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the tracking and joining problems of positively driven flat belts.